Happy pickle day to those who celebrate

I was informed that today was National Pickle Day, said to be derived from International Pickle Week, held in May. (National Pickle Month is celebrated in July, which makes more sense, since that's when pickle-able produce matures.) Luckily this useless bit of trivia was conveyed to me before lunch time, so I was prompted to get some of the refrigerator pickles on the table. Quickles aren't forever, after all.

This recipe is a staple. While it's best made during garden season, I have been known to make it with store-bought mini cucumbers in winter because they make such a nice complement for sandwiches.

Quick garlic dill pickles

From "The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving" by Eleanor Topp and Margaret Howard via Epicurious. I usually cut this recipe in half since I put up so many kinds of refrigerator pickles that it eats up a lot of refrigerator space.

Note: If you're packing this in pint jars as called for, you'll want to make sure your cucumbers are short enough to come less than a half inch from the top of the jar.  Otherwise you'll find part of the cucumbers aren't covered by the liquid and it will intrude into the head space if you opted to can these. If your cucumbers are taller, you could use quart jars and up the vinegar/water/salt mixture accordingly. 

Ingredients

8-10 small pickling cucumbers (about 3 pounds)
4 small garlic cloves
4 heads fresh dill or 4 teaspoons dill seed (I use both, along with dill fronds, because I like dill pickles to be very dilly indeed; I would omit the fronds if doing a hot water bath preserving method)
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons pickling salt

Method

Cut a thin slice from the ends of the cucumber so they'll stand up in the jar more easily. You can leave them whole if you prefer, or slice them into quarters if you want spears.

Add a garlic clove, head of dill and/or 1 teaspoon dill seed to each jar. Pack in the cucumbers vertically. 

Place vinegar, water and pickling salt in a non-reactive pan and bring to a boil. Pour mixture over cucumbers, top with lids and let cool before refrigerating. 

Note for the uninitiated: It's not unlikely that the lids placed on the hot jars will pop to form a seal. This does NOT mean they're OK to leave out on the counter; it takes a full sterilization/hot water canning routine plus those satisfying pops to be shelf stable. It does mean you've got a nice seal, however, which never hurts for frig longevity.

(Alternatively, you could sterilize the jars before packing in the garlic, dill seed and cucumbers, pour over the boiling mixture, leaving a half-inch space at the top, then process in boiling water in a canner for 10 minutes for pints and 15 minutes for quarts.) 

Rating: These are definitely puckery pickles. Super fast way to get nicely dilly, garlicky cucumber spears. Really couldn't be simpler.